In Korean, the word for "memories" is made up of two Chinese characters: "追" (to follow) and "憶" (to think). While the literal translation is simply "recalling thoughts," in Korea, the word truly means "memories" in the fullest sense.

Those sudden, pleasant recollections from the past. The kind that make you smile for no particular reason even during difficult times. Like deeply painful memories, they're embedded too deeply to be easily removed.

Just as the Korean word for memories is fundamentally related to "remembering," similar words exist in other languages. In Japanese, it's "思い出" (omoide). While this word can mean both "memories" and "recollections" in Japanese—similar to the English "memory"—it's not used in such a neutral way. It's commonly used to refer to cherished memories, so the usage isn't that different.

Memories... aren't something you can create just because you want to.

Everyone experiences things intensely in different ways, so what we remember varies. Even when experiencing the same event together, people remember different aspects of it.

Sometimes, simply walking with someone you like—something seemingly insignificant—leaves a profound impression, while memories of enjoying a festival might be so hazy they're difficult to recall.

Memories that suddenly appear when you've completely forgotten about them. The kind that make you narrow your eyes, smile, and say "those were good times," leaving you lost in thought while neglecting your work. These are recorded without you even realizing it.

That's not to say there's no way to influence this process.

Like everything else in life, the more you repeat something, the more memories remain. If there's someone you want to create memories with, just stay close to them, do lots of things you want to do, and enjoy things you want to enjoy together.

"Hmm!"

It was almost time for the final bell at school, in the Literature Club room.

Outside the window, the sun was setting, and even the red glow of twilight was slowly being swallowed by darkness.

Normally, we would have already gone home by now.

"This looks great!"

"That was close..."

Kaoru nodded with satisfaction while Izumi sighed deeply.

Indeed.

We had managed to submit our anthology just in time on the 26th of last week.

It was a very thin anthology. We hastily skimmed through books and wrote book reviews and recommended reading lists, plus one piece each for the anthology, adding large clip art images from the word processor to pad the volume as much as possible.

For reference, Kaoru's recommended books were all about spiritualism and the occult, while Izumi's were all mystery-related. The rest of us had a random assortment, mainly because we had hurriedly skimmed through the table of contents and endings of books in the Literature Club room.

We managed to put together a decent collection thanks to Koko, who recommended some secondhand children's books from my house.

...While it's understandable that my reading volume would be less than Izumi's, it was somewhat shocking to realize I read less than Kaoru, who reads occult magazines daily, or Koko, who loves children's books. Well, I suppose that makes sense when I think about it.

If smartphones existed in this world, I'd have been confident in reading the most. I used to read internet novels quite enthusiastically at one point. Whether those reviews would be acceptable as book reports is another matter entirely.

Anyway, submitting the anthology wasn't the end of it.

No matter how unappealing our club might be, pushed to the top floor of an old building, we still needed to maintain appearances during the cultural festival.

All of us—myself, Koko, Yuka, Kaoru, and even our club president Izumi—had been eager to close the club room early and enjoy the attractions set up in other clubs and classrooms, but we still needed to participate to write the report for the student council.

We copied and pasted famous lines from renowned Japanese poets and novelists, added appropriate photos and images, printed them large, and laminated them. Ordering, picking up, and mounting these on sturdy boards took longer than expected, so we only managed to finish the day before the cultural festival.

Since we were the Literature Club, our own writings were interspersed among the displays. They looked incredibly modest next to the works of Japanese literary giants.

"...Is this really okay?"

I muttered, looking at my haiku displayed right next to the opening line of "Snow Country" by Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata.

It's probably fine, right? Not many people would come all this way to read each of our sentences in detail.

I doubt anyone will take one of the eleven copies of our anthology we've prepared. Well, maybe one person might take one as a souvenir.

"It's a festival after all. It's okay if things look a bit awkward or lacking. I bet even the haunted house won't be scary at all."

"...Wouldn't it be a problem if we got scared by something like that?"

Izumi glanced at the three of us in response to Kaoru's comment.

We didn't answer.

Well, after seeing the actual slit-mouthed woman, we wouldn't be scared by someone with red lipstick messily applied to the corners of their mouth.

At this point, even if we noticed something wrong, we had no time to fix it, so we just shrugged at each other and left the school.

"I'm looking forward to it."

Kaoru said with a smile.

"Since we'll be third-years next year, this will be our last chance to properly enjoy the cultural festival."

Izumi looked at Kaoru with a shocked expression.

"What? Don't tell me you were actually planning to study properly?"

"That's mean. I study seriously during exam periods too! I even got better test scores than you."

"Only in some subjects! My average is higher!"

I chuckled slightly at their childish argument as we walked leisurely.

I see. Third year, huh.

As second-years, we even went to Hawaii for our school trip. Going to such a famous foreign tourist destination might be because our school is expensive in many ways, but it might also be because third-years don't go on school trips.

It's like compensation, you could say.

We let you have fun this year, so please study properly next year and improve our school's advancement rate—something like that.

"Next year..."

Yuka murmured, looking up at the sky.

It's already the end of November.

Next month would truly be the "end of the year." If we get through the final exams at the very end, we'll be a year older.

"We still have two years left."

Yuka said.

She must be talking about graduation.

Right. We're just finishing our first year. Actually, by Japanese standards, we still have one more semester left.

Her eyes, which had been looking at the sky, turned to me.

"I hope we're in the same class next year."

"..."

Same class.

I see.

For the first time, Yuka had attended two semesters without transferring to another school.

It's not strange for her to have such expectations.

...I wonder why Yuka didn't transfer away.

In the original work, this wasn't clearly depicted.

People who read the novel speculated online that it was because of Sasaki.

Not simply because she liked the protagonist.

It was because of Sasaki's blood.

Here, we haven't caught the gaki yet, and I'm here too.

Ah, I see.

If Yuka is the person I trust most, that means she'll be near me in that final moment.

"...What? Don't you want that?"

Perhaps because I took too long to answer, Yuka asked somewhat anxiously.

I shook my head.

"No, just..."

After thinking for a moment longer,

"I think it would be fun."

That's how I answered.

Yuka smiled shyly.

Yes. It would be fun.

With Mako, Fukuda, and Yamashita in front, and Yuka behind.

With Koko sitting next to me.

If we could sit like that, it would really be fun. Going home together after school every day, meeting on the way to school.

Maybe I could even get Mako and her two friends to join the Literature Club.

...

Maybe I should quit my part-time job next year.

It would be a bit sad not to see the manager often, but I could still visit frequently as a customer.

"Koko, what do you think?"

"Wha?"

When I suddenly passed the baton to her, Koko's eyes widened.

"About being in the same class as Yuka next year."

Yuka's gaze also turned anxiously toward Koko.

"Wuu?"

Did she not understand?

I was briefly considering whether I needed to explain the concept of changing classes, when Koko tilted her head and spoke.

"Can't I be with Mako and her friends?"

"..."

Ah.

I see.

It was so natural for us to be in the same class that I hadn't realized it, but if classes changed, Mako, Fukuda, and Yamashita could also be separated.

In Japanese manga, strangely, the same classmates often stay together until the third year, but I'm not sure if that's normal or truly random. It seems the teachers decide, though.

In my case too, there were some friends who stayed in the same class throughout all three years of school, and others who were separated when we moved up a grade.

"I think it'll be fine."

I decided to think optimistically.

In a light novel, classes would likely stay the same. If that happens, there's a possibility Yuka might not be able to join our class.

But since we don't know yet anyway, does it matter what we think?

"It's common for people who were in the same class to stay together."

"That's right, that's right."

Kaoru said.

"We've been in the same class since middle school until now."

That's quite surprising.

Now it was Yuka's and my turn to look at those two.

Kaoru puffed out her chest as if this was something to be proud of, but Izumi rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"Thanks to that, I can't escape when Kaoru wants to do something after school."

"It would be the same even if you were in a different class."

Kaoru countered Izumi's comment with a smile.

That's nice.

They might not have an extremely wide circle of friends, but I think having one lifelong friend is a wonderful thing.

Things might change when they go to university... but somehow, I felt these two would choose the same university and even the same department.

"...I hope so."

"Hm?"

"Just saying I hope we can be in the same class."

"R-really?"

When I confirmed again, Yuka smiled broadly with joy.

That smile is beautiful.

It would be nice if everyone at this age could smile like that.

Without worrying about yokai or anything else.

I imagined Yuka living an ordinary life, with no yokai or anything unusual in the world.

In my imagination, Yuka was smiling.

I wasn't beside her.

Well, that makes sense.

If there had been no such anomalies, we would never have met like this.

...Just like our memories.

That's the curious thing about memories.

*

The next day.

"..."

While walking to school early as usual, I suddenly stopped in front of the school gate.

The gate looked different from what I usually saw.

Well, it had been like that for several days.

For the cultural festival, students had decorated our school gate lavishly. They covered the elegant stone gate with thick hardboard and created a splendid "entrance" on top of it.

Well, it didn't look like something made by professionals. But the hand-cut colored paper and balloons that were inflated just enough to give them shape created that "cultural festival" atmosphere.

For reference, our school's cultural festival was called "Hanakōsai." It doesn't have any special meaning; it's just an abbreviation of "Hanagawa High School Cultural Festival."

Since Hanagawa is just a family name, there's no need to deeply consider its meaning, but perhaps because of the image conveyed by the character for "flower" (花), all the pictures drawn at the gate were of bright flowers. Unfortunately, it's already a season when most flowers have fallen.

For reference, there had been a student-made countdown sign on top of the school building about 100 days before the cultural festival. A portable blackboard at the gate entrance had the number "0" drawn as elaborately as possible with chalk.

"Kotone?"

Koko asked me, as I was looking at the gate instead of going straight in as usual.

"Koko, let's take a picture."

As I took out my phone, Koko nodded enthusiastically with a bright "Yes!"

We stood as close together as possible and faced the phone camera, but unfortunately, the photo was filled just with our faces.

"Kotone! Koko!"

And then, with perfect timing, Yuka appeared.

"Yuka, let's take a picture."

As soon as I saw Yuka, I skipped the greeting and blurted that out.

Yuka also skipped the greeting and smiled broadly at my words.

As we were taking turns taking photos in pairs,

"Oh my."

Once again, with incredibly good luck, Ms. Suzuki, who was passing by, spotted us.

Ms. Suzuki wasn't coming into the school from outside but going out from inside.

"Good morning."

Having been raised in a Confucian country, I didn't skip greetings with teachers. When I greeted her, Koko also politely greeted her, and Yuka bowed respectfully.

"Taking pictures? Shall I take one for you?"

"Thank you."

Ms. Suzuki said with a smile, and fortunately, we were able to take a photo with all three of us together.

The small phone screen was filled with the school gate, which was somewhat excessively decorated for the cultural festival.

The three of us were posing in the middle.

There was no need to worry about looking natural. Koko and Yuka were smiling brightly.

I had a smile on my face too.

...Yes, what are memories if not this?

All these traces that remain are our memories.

"Well then, enjoy the cultural festival."

Ms. Suzuki said as she handed the phone back to us.

Then she hurried away.

She was probably going to buy tape or something. On days like this, people often run out of supplies while making last-minute preparations in the morning.

"Shall we go?"

When Yuka said that, I nodded.

Koko still had a bright smile on her face.

*

Hanagawa High School actively encourages club activities.

In fact, some club activities apparently make good talking points when applying to universities. The girls' track and field club was already famous. Well, it seems they've had some troubles this year due to various incidents, but Kaoru, who had already quit, didn't care.

However, even though club activities are encouraged, the main part of school life is still the classes in the classroom.

If clubs have prepared cultural festival content, classrooms have prepared content too, and the first morning of the cultural festival revolves around that.

That's not to say club activities are disregarded. It's just that classroom activities tend to be larger in scale, so in the morning, priority is given to helping with those.

The assigned club activities differ by class.

If students in a class don't show much enthusiasm for doing something, they might just conduct a simple survey, with only a few students staying to watch the classroom while the rest go enjoy other classrooms. Even in busier classrooms, students take turns enjoying the festival.

For reference, our class was doing a haunted house.

We brought blackout curtains to completely block light from the classroom windows, and we hung torn black plastic bags at the classroom entrance to make it look somewhat like an abandoned school.

The overall atmosphere was cheerful. While I wasn't close with everyone in the class, after spending about two semesters together, you naturally learn faces and names.

At first, they seemed to think I was a delinquent because of my numerous absences, but nowadays some students approach me in a friendly manner. Being around Mako seems to have helped quite a bit.

"Per~fect!"

And apparently, I had a significant influence on our class choosing the haunted house theme.

Well, with two Sadakos in the class, it would be a waste not to use them.

For reference, since it became known through Mako and her friends that I was active in the Literature Club, our participation time was set until just before lunch.

It was only natural that a sign reading [Time Limited! Really Really Scary Ghost Costume!] was posted in front of our classroom.

Yes, honestly, even with the same costume, it's not very scary when Fukuda does it.

Fukuda would probably be much scarier crouching in the corner of the classroom with something like a baseball bat on her shoulder.

I couldn't say that to her face though.

"Alright~ turning off the lights!"

With those words, the lights that had been kept on during preparation were turned off.

And then.

"Whoa!"

Such cheers erupted throughout the classroom.

It was the sound of satisfaction from the students seeing Koko and me.

"Waa!"

And Koko joined in, shouting excitedly.

"Koko, no."

Fukuda said. With a flashlight under her chin, she did create a bit of an atmosphere. Though she was still scary more in the sense of looking like a thug you'd meet on a dark street.

"No 'waa' when you're trying to scare people."

"Wuu?"

"No 'wuu' either."

Fukuda was trying to look stern, but she didn't appear very serious, suggesting she actually thought it might be fun if Koko made such sounds.

"...This hair is so annoying."

"Ghosts shouldn't complain like that."

Mako said with a smile to the complaining Yamashita.

Yamashita irritably lifted the wig that was hanging over her face.

Yamashita, who was scheduled to act as a ghost in the afternoon after Koko and I left—

To be honest, she looked less like a ghost and more like a beautiful woman with long hair.

Well, a not-at-all-scary haunted house is also part of the charm of a school festival.

Though this is actually my first time seeing something like this.